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detuning guitar strings a half step


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Posted

i'm a little confused about the detuning. there's a song i'm trying to learn (Magic in His Eyes, Rufus & Chaka) and I swear the bass is hitting an E flat instead of an e, and i've heard alot about detuning to an e flat, but what i don't get is what key does that put you in? if you detune all your strings, it seems to me that puts you in the key of d flat, but i've always heard people say that detuning the guitar strings a half step gives you the key of e flat, and that people do this to get the e flat but still play the basic chords of an e, or something like that...and i could swear that this Rufus song is in the key of e flat and not d flat, so i guess my question is this: how do you tune your guitar to the key of e flat, and can you use the basic open string chords when you do?

 

HELP!

  • Members
Posted

Just tune every string down a half-step, so your tuning low to high will be

 

Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb

 

Now all of your open string chords will be a half-step down from what they normally are if you do the same fingerings. Ex- A becomes Ab, B becomes Bb, C becomes B (or Cb depending on how you look at it), etc...

  • Members
Posted

Eb tuning is just tuning your strings down 1/2 step. so it is really Eb. the chords you play are all fingered the same.

 

but when reading music notation, if the music notes the song is 1/2 step flat, they wont call a G chord an F#, which compared to standard tuning a strummed G chord down 1/2 step is the same tone of a strummed F# chord in standard tuning.

 

alot of bands tune down for a slightly looser feel, and to accomadate the singers voice.

 

but say "knocking on heavens door" by Guns'N'Roses.

 

this song is tuned a 1/2 step flat (Eb).

 

the chords are G-D-Am, then G-D-C

 

you strum those chords the same way as in standard tuning (same frets), and it is not called Gb-Db-Cb, its still called G-D-C.

 

it is meaning "relative to tuning"

 

hope this helped ya some

  • Members
Posted

Good advice guys!

Also.....invest in a good tuner that will do flat tunings, as well as Drop tunings and Open tunings. For someone learning...they are helpful! Hell...I've played for 18 years and I still find a tuner that has those features useful! lol

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